I have an idea: It's called The $5 Project and it goes something like this: If you had $5 a day to spend on anything charitable for a year, what would you do? What would have the most impact? Would you give $5 to a different charity everyday or save all the money to make one big donation? Would find a theme and send more than $5 to each themed cause? What is your criteria for giving money? More importantly why do you give your time which is often more valuable than money?
Can you skip your Peets or Starbucks to use the money on something worthy of it? I wonder if it will give you the same lift as the coffee or tea?
What are your thoughts?
Would you save enough to go to Africa and raise more money?
Thank you for your support of Classes for Causes and allowing us to host An Evening of Pairings last week. The success of the event was the result of the people who attended, worked to make it happen and people who donated time, goods and money. In that respect, it sounds like the same model as Classes for Causes. People volunteer (to teach) and other people pay to attend (classes) and the money raised goes to the charity of the (teacher's or) fundraiser's choice. An Evening of Pairings raised approximately $1,200 which will go towards paying for liability insurance for our board of directors so that we can continue to build the organization and continue to encourage teaching, learning and giving for and to great causes.
I am so happy to report that An Evening of Pairings went very well. We had a perfect group of people in attendance and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves very much. Extra special thanks to the members of the all volunteer Classes for Causes board of directors without whom the event would not have happened and to whom I am eternally grateful for their commitment and extraordinary donations of time and dedication to Classes for Causes. In alphabetical order, they are Isabel Arcones, our treasurer and voice of reason; Kate Dahl, who is a new recruit on the board and has already contributed a ton; Kelly James for organizing the wine from Gallo, various raffle prizes, promoting the event and countless guests and connections for Classes for Causes; Lisa Haut-Mikkelsen for always giving more than expected and building relationships everywhere she goes; Jennifer Perkins for her dedication to the website; Mark Shilaff for his connection to Siena Imports and the dessert wine and for helping find a venue; Frank Toth for another voice of reason and unwavering support and Alicia Washevich for organizing eco-friendly cups, raffle prizes, endless promotion and building awareness.
We would also like to thank Lina Shatara of DAI Events for promoting An Evening of Pairing to her email list, helping us with event planning and sending the weekly emails. To Schoggi, a big thank you for being the host and providing us with such a great venue, delicious chocolate and 10% of all chocolate sales. To Michael Savage for his very generous donation of a case of 2004 Savage Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, thank you very very much. We are also most grateful to Todd Temple of Vasquez Coffee Company for spending the evening with us and donating the special fair trade coffee. Donna Ho, of Far Leaves Tea, thank you also, for donating your evening to our event and for the delicious tea pairings you provided. We thank Jason Chietti of Siena Imports for donating a case of Nativo Grillo and Nero D'Avola dessert wine, and Casey Scharetg for connecting us with great prices on the wines from Gallo. Concannon Vineyard also donated a certificate for a private tasting for four people which was our grand prize in the raffle.
When it comes to Valentine's Day, what could be better than wine and chocolate? Ok, don't answer that. But seriously, Schoggi chocolates are delicious by themselves and when paired with a delectable wine or even a tea or coffee, the flavors seem to be matches made in heaven.
Our guests this evening will try up to six chocolate pairings with four different wines: Savage Estate Cabernet, Siena Imports recommended Nativo dessert wines - Nero D'Avola and Grillo from Sicilly, and from Gallo: L.Martini Sonoma County Cabernet and Don Miguel Gascon Malbec from Argentina. There will also be two different teas from Far Leaves Tea - Monk's Blend and Blood Orange, and two different coffees from Vasquez Coffee Company - Brazil Dark-Rich Bold Roast and El Salvador Dark-Smooth Italian Roast.
Tickets will be on sale at the door. We look forward to seeing you and learning about your favorite pairing.
To my Mum, Ali, Christine, Becky, Michelle, Marie, Bonnie, Ellen, Jennifer, Sandra, Cindy, Dom, Nic, Micheala, Isabel, Orah, Ashley, Lynne, Bonnie, Donna, Grace, Amy, Lisa, Katie, MD and all the women in my life who are my heroins, my pillars of strength, my mountains of encouragement and my fountains of wisdom and joy. Thank you!
Doodle 4 Google is a new initiative from Google encouraging K-12 kids to play with the Google logo around the theme "What I Wish for the World."
There are regional prizes and a National Winner. The National Winner will win a $15,000 college scholarship to be used at the school of their choice, a trip to the Google New York Office, a laptop computer, and a t-shirt printed with their doodle. We'll also award the winner's school a $25,000 technology grant towards the establishment/improvement of a computer lab.
From last year's contest:
What a great way to get kids thinking about what they wish for the world, encouraging community participation and inspiring creativity. Nice job, Googlers!
Seth Godin recently posted the question: What is school for? with 27 suggested answers to start the conversation. Following up on that in reference to Classes for Causes I thought it would be a good exercise and potential discussion to ask Why take classes? While Seth's post is centered mainly around traditional educational for children, we'll focus on classes for adults. Classes for Causes is not a school, but we offer people the ability to teach and learn while raising money for good causes. One of the reasons for taking classes in our model is that 80% of the tuition for each class goes to the charity or cause of the instructor's choice.
Other answers to Why take classes are, take classes:
To learn a new skill
To improve upon an existing skill
To try something out to see if you like it
To become an expert in a particular field
To collaborate
To connect with like-minded people
To meet new people
To build your network
To participate in a fundraising effort
To discover new opportunities
To learn for the sake of learning (same as Seth's #13)
To exercise your mind
To open your mind
To stimulate your intellect
To show your support for a good charity
To support your friends who are using Classes for Causes as a forum to discover whether they like to teach
To see if perhaps you would like to teach something
To broaden your horizons
To make yourself more marketable
To give and receive education
To learn as much as you can, because when you stop learning you die
To feel more connected to a cause
To do something productive
To embrace diversity
To live life well
To become more interesting
To have more things to talk about about
To join and build a community
To see just what this idea is all about
To discuss things that interest you with others who are interesting and interested
To grow
To feel like you're making a difference
If you have friends that are looking for new and exciting things to do, ask them to take a class or even teach one. I'm sure the reasons listed above are just a few of the much longer list. If you are taking classes right now, why are you taking them? If you are interested in taking classes with Classes for Causes, why are you interested? Please add your thoughts in the comments below, and/or take our survey.
